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Concept
Lake Pontchartrain
Summary
Lake Pontchartrain (ˈpɒntʃətreɪn ) is an estuary located in southeastern Louisiana in the United States. It covers an area of with an average depth of . Some shipping channels are kept deeper through dredging. It is roughly oval in shape, about from west to east and from south to north.
In descending order of area, the lake is located in parts of six Louisiana parishes: St. Tammany, Orleans, Jefferson, St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, and Tangipahoa. The water boundaries were defined in 1979 (see list of parishes in Louisiana).
The lake is crossed by the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, the longest continuous bridge over water in the world. A power line also crosses the lake. Its towers stand on caissons in Lake Pontchartrain, and its length can be used to visually demonstrate the curvature of the Earth.
Lake Pontchartrain is named for Louis Phélypeaux, comte de Pontchartrain. He was the French Minister of the Marine, Chancellor, and Controller-General of Finances during the reign of France's "Sun King", Louis XIV, for whom the colony of La Louisiane was named.
The name Pontchartrain itself comes from the place in France where Phélypeaux's château is situated. It is thought that this name originates from it being where a bridge (pont) crossed the river Mauldre on the ancient route from Lutèce to Chartres (chartrain).
Lake Maurepas, directly west of Lake Pontchartrain, was named for the son of Louis Phélypeaux, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de Maurepas, who was also a French statesman.
Lake Pontchartrain is an estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico via the Rigolets strait (known locally as "the Rigolets") and Chef Menteur Pass into Lake Borgne, another large lagoon, and therefore experiences small tidal changes. It receives fresh water from the Tangipahoa, Tchefuncte, Tickfaw, Amite, and Bogue Falaya rivers, and from Bayou Lacombe and Bayou Chinchuba. It is one of the largest wetlands along the Gulf Coast of North America.
Official source
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